Reactions from City Hall: Chief O’Hara’s Resignation

Trust isn’t just part of the job—it is the job. But what happens when the leader of a major city’s police department is caught breaking that very trust? In a move that caught our city by surprise, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara resigned Wednesday following a misconduct investigation. As critics demand answers about how this happened, in an interview with Fox 9 Mayor Jacob Frey sat down with Fox 9 to discuss the fallout, the timeline, and the painful conversation that changed everything. Watch the interview above to hear what really went down behind closed doors.

As of Saturday, May 30th, Council Members Shaffer, Rainville, Palmisano, Whiting, Wonsley and Sorenson have issued statements to their respective constituents. Read their full, unedited statements below:

The Chief’s resignation and (re)building trust

Along with everyone else, I was surprised by former Chief Brian O’Hara’s sudden resignation on Tuesday. An independent inquiry found he had interfered with a formal investigation into alleged sexual misconduct with a city employee. The report detailed that O’Hara had deleted a contact number from his city-issued cellphone to shield evidence of his connection to this employee and told another employee that his phone had been taken.

There is no question that under Brian O’Hara’s leadership, in conjunction with the hard work of all our MPD staff, the department has made real progress. Many forms of violent crime are down. Recruiting ranks are being rebuilt. Policies and practices have been refined to pair maximally effective law enforcement with the minimal necessary force, working steadily to implement the consent decree and settlement agreement. We also faced the twin traumas of Operation Metro Surge and Annunciation on O’Hara’s watch and, lastly, he was visible and accessible to the community.

Yet at Tuesday’s press conference Mayor Frey stated clearly: “trust is the job.” Trust is elemental or “ground zero” for any leadership, and trust in MPD is still growing and sometimes fragile. We don’t expect perfection from our public servants, but we do expect them to admit their mistakes and accept the consequences. Most importantly, they can’t interfere with the processes we have in place to ensure accountability.

I know questions remain, and over time we’ll likely learn more. But through everything, demanding accountability for how we do our work – with a common goal of building trust – is much bigger than any one person or job title. It requires thoughtfulness from everyone in leadership, taking a hard look at ourselves and not just others. We might not be deleting a contact to impede an investigation, but we may be hiding our real intentions from colleagues in order to manipulate outcomes, or be comfortable using personal attacks on those with alternative viewpoints, all of which erodes trust to varying degrees.

Accountability and integrity are the bedrock of trust. Let’s examine and repair our foundations and do the hard work of moving forward.

Assistant Chief Katie Blackwell has been appointed Acting Chief and the search for a new Police Chief will be underway soon.

Statement on Chief O’Hara’s Resignation

Hello to all my 3rd Ward neighbors,

As has been reported, I had outstanding questions about Chief O’Hara that I was looking to have answered before deciding whether to confirm him for a second term. One of those questions has now been answered. While I am grateful for his stewardship of the department, especially during times of crisis, I am deeply disappointed at the lack of judgement and breach of trust we all learned about yesterday. I believe resigning was the correct decision and look forward to continuing the work of rebuilding and reforming MPD. This is in no way a reflection on the brave women and men of MPD who serve the citizens of Minneapolis every day. They are honorable peace makers and I stand by them.

Your neighbor,

Michael

I am grateful for Chief O’Hara’s service to our city and for his leadership of the Minneapolis Police Department. He guided us through some extraordinarily difficult times in his tenure, most recently including the mass shooting at Annunciation and Operation Metro Surge, and for that I thank him.

Yesterday, a report about the chief’s interference in an investigation of alleged misconduct was given to the mayor. This interference undermines public trust and demands accountability – a standard that should apply to everyone that serves our city in a public capacity. Accountability is essential to maintaining a transparent and effective local government.

The Minneapolis Police Department will continue its efforts under acting Chief Katie Blackwell, and the challenging work of transformation of public safety in our city must continue. I look forward to a swift search for a new chief and to the leadership that person will bring to MPD as we all move forward. Minneapolis residents deserve policing that is safe, just, and unbiased.

Council Member Linea Palmisano

Statement on the Resignation of Police Chief Brian O’Hara

Police Chief O’Hara’s Resignation

Dear Community,

Last night, Brian O’Hara resigned as Chief of Police after a report concluded that he interfered with an ongoing investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct. While the sexual misconduct allegations have not been substantiated, O’Hara was determined to have deleted information from his City phone and violated the integrity of the investigation by speaking about it with other City employees.

I received the news of O’Hara’s resignation at the same time as the general public. I’ve had varied experiences with O’Hara’s leadership, but there is also a larger context to the abrupt end to O’Hara’s tenure at the City. O’Hara’s resignation is a symptom of a larger problem: Mayor Frey’s failure to effectively manage the Minneapolis Police Department. 

Mayor Frey has been promising meaningful police reform since he was first elected in 2017. He has put forward leader after leader as vehicles for these promises. Yet the majority of these appointments– Chief Arradondo, Interim Chief Huffman, Chief O’Hara, Commissioner Alexander, and Commissioner Barnette – have resigned or been forced out after high-profile stories about MPD’s continued failure to reform. The common denominator is not any one leader of MPD, it is Mayor Frey. 

Mayor Frey’s failures to reform MPD allowed officers like Derek Chauvin to remain on the force and continue using discriminatory policing and excessive force. After MPD murdered George Floyd, Mayor Frey continued to promise reform, but the Department of Justice investigation into MPD identified that MPD’s practices still violated constitutional law as of August of 2022.

Nine years after he first ran promising police reform, Mayor Frey hasn’t delivered any meaningful police reforms to the people of Minneapolis. It’s not for lack of understanding: there are lists of clear, specific reforms provided by state and federal officials, courts, public safety experts, and community organizations with dozens of strategies to reform the police. Stronger discipline for officers who discriminate or use excessive force, requiring that all training officers have a clean disciplinary history, investing in civilian investigators, regulating off-duty work, effective domestic violence response, and many more.

Instead of the reforms that Mayor Frey promised, his leadership has yielded a revolving door of chiefs and commissioners, scandal after scandal, and failure after failure. That pattern continued into yesterday’s news about Brian O’Hara.

The investigative report affirms that Mayor Frey knew there were unanswered questions and pending investigations into Brian O’Hara when he renominated him to the City Council a couple of weeks ago. This is completely out of step with professional norms. In cases where the Chief of Police has serious allegations regarding misconduct, neighboring jurisdictions took immediate action. Metro Transit Police Department, Golden Valley Police Department, and Rosemount Police Department all placed their Chief of Police on administrative leave once allegations triggered investigations into potential misconduct. Mayor Frey has yet to explain or defend his choice to allow Brian O’Hara to remain the acting police chief while these claims were being investigated, or why he nominated him for a second term.

I hope that O’Hara’s resignation is a wake up call to Mayor Frey that it’s time to stop deflecting to appointed leaders or telling residents that reform will come from his next flashy new nominee. Mayor Frey is the sole authority over MPD and has been since 2017. MPD’s failures are Mayor Frey’s legacy. In light of Brian O’Hara’s resignation, I’m calling on Mayor Frey to finally take responsibility for MPD himself, as voters elected him to do.

Minneapolis residents deserve to finally get what they’ve been promised for a decade: meaningful police reform and for a public safety system that really serves everyone. Mayor Frey has the sole authority to make that happen.

Chief O’Hara’s Resignation

Dear neighbors,

Last night I learned alongside all of you and the public of Chief O’Hara’s resignation. The allegations and complaints of sexually intimate relationships with City Staff and inappropriate behaviors with subordinates, as well as the substantiated interference into his own investigation that lead to his resignation are very concerning. I am glad that investigative and disciplinary measures were taken in response to them, and I hope that moving forward there will be more transparent communication with the City Council regarding investigations of top City leadership. Minneapolis needs a police department that is accountable from top to bottom for its actions and inactions. In order for the Council to be able to properly carry out our role of oversight we need more transparency from the executive branch of the City. For now, Assistant Chief Katie Blackwell will serve as Acting Chief effective immediately, and a search for a new Police Chief will take place soon.

Minneapolis residents want a comprehensive public safety system that keeps everyone safe, and a police department that is accountable, transparent and puts the safety of residents above all else. The Mayor’s decision to nominate Chief O’Hara while serious accusations have been rumored for months, an investigation into complaints was opened, and the Chief has been unable to answer for massive overspending and serious lack of accountability from the Minneapolis Police Department is a betrayal of what the people of our city need and deserve. It’s also deeply concerning that Toddrick Barnette failed to oversee and properly discipline MPD and its leadership, and adds to the reasons why I cannot support his re-appointment. Minneapolis residents want and deserve better leadership and better governance, especially from leaders in such important positions. My commitment remains to working for a safer city for everyone, and I look forward to getting to work on that with my colleagues and a new Chief.

Please feel free to reach out to my office with any questions or comments.

Thank you and solidarity,
Soren Stevenson

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Editors Note: We will update this as more Council members issue statements.